In conventional methods for measuring biometric data such as the body temperature, pulse rate, electrocardiogram, and blood pressure of a patient, a process of measuring biometric data is performed in such a way that the patient or a medical personnel such as a doctor or a nurse brings a biometric data detecting sensor into contact with the body of the patient.
Examples of such measurement methods include a method of measuring the body temperature of the patient by putting a thermometer under the armpit of a patient for several minutes, and a method of measuring the pulse rate or blood pressure of the patient from the arm of the patient.
However, temporary biometric data which can be obtained by the above-mentioned measurement methods may not be enough to check conditions of a patient. For instance, despite the fact that the patient has felt symptoms, the symptoms may not appear when a doctor or nurse measures biometric data, and thus the patient may be diagnosed as normal.
In particular, symptoms of arrhythmia, heart rate abnormality, or the like may not always appear. In the case of a test for a short period of time, the mental state of the patient, the time zone of the test, etc. may affect the result of the test. Thus, the result of the diagnosis may not be accurate.
Recently, with the development of the information and communication technology, research on an e-health care technique capable of obtaining in real time biometric data anywhere and at any time and of using the obtained data has become appreciably more active.
Furthermore, such research leads to development of smart clothing, which can obtain biometric data about a wearer and transmit the obtained data to other devices, in various fields pertaining to, in particular, caring the aged people increasing in number as the population is aging, remotely treating or prescribing an emergency patient, checking the body stability of a soldier or high-risk worker, transmitting an alarm signal when a dangerous situation occurs, and so forth.
For example, smart clothing for measuring biological signals, in which a biological signal sensor forms a portion of the clothing and a first connector is coupled to the biological signal sensor, was proposed in Korean Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-2009-0110566 (patent document 1). When a second connector provided on a display means or wireless transmission means is connected to the first connector, biological signals sensed by the biological signal sensor can be displayed on the display means or transmitted by the wireless transmission means.
In the case of patent document 1, the first connector having a snap button shape is required to transmit biological signals sensed by the biological signal sensor to the display means or the wireless transmission means. However, because the first connector must be made of metal, the cloth may be damaged when it is washed, and portions of the cloth that surrounds around the first connector may discolor because of corrosion of the first connector.
In addition, when a wearer wears the clothing, a portion of the first connector comes into direct contact with the body of the wearer, thus reducing wearing comfort, and giving a foreign body sensation when the wearer moves.
Furthermore, the biological signal sensor and the display means (or wireless transmission means) is connected to the first connector in a one-to-one manner. Therefore, it is impossible to use a plurality of biological signal sensors for measuring a variety of biological data such as a respiration rate, a pulse rate, a body temperature, etc. at the same time.